The invention relates to a pointer instrument, especially one for a motor vehicle, having two pointers which can each be deflected by a pointer drive and each have a pointer flag, it being possible for the pointers to pivot independently of each other about a common axis of rotation.
In modern motor vehicles, a large number of items of information are signaled to the driver by pointer instruments. Whereas earlier one was satisfied with just a speed indicator, pointer instruments are also increasingly provided nowadays for the engine speed, the fuel level or the temperature. For traffic safety reasons, these instruments must be arranged in the continuous field of view of the driver as a result of which the installation space which is available is often severely restricted.
It has therefore already been proposed to integrate two independent, coaxial pointers into one pointer instrument, similar to a clock, in order in this way to make optimum use of the available space. However, the disadvantage here is that, depending on the position of the pointer flags, the lower pointer flag is hidden by the upper pointer flag and therefore cannot be read directly by the driver. As a result, in the event of a fleeting glance at the pointer instrument, confusion in the allocation of the pointer flag may occur. Furthermore, the above-described design requires multiple scaling, so that increased attention is required of the driver for the purpose of reading. The inherent advantage of pointer instruments over digital indicators, that changes in the indicated value can be registered without the indicator having to be read exactly for this, is therefore no longer provided in the case of two coaxial pointer flags. Furthermore, the relatively great distance of the upper pointer from the dial has a detrimental effect so that reading inaccuracies occur, depending on the viewing angle, and the pointer instrument has a large overall height. In practice, the abovementioned disadvantages have led to pointer instruments with a plurality of pointer flags not being able to become widespread, with the exception of pointer instruments for the time of day.